Wearable exoskeletons will revolutionize manufacturing, healthcare, and the military. Say hello to the prototypes and new models that will make it happen.

Know Your Mechanical Exoskeletons

Know Your Mechanical Exoskeletons

Argo Medical Technologies expects big things for 2014. In the coming months the company's powered exoskeleton, ReWalk, will be the first of its kind to receive an FDA Class II clearance—a decision that will help transition wearable machines from the rehab center to the home and workplace.

In the meantime, exoskeletons have advanced on other fronts. This month Ekso Bionics unveiled its Ekso GT, designed to help stroke victims regain an even walk, and in May U.S. Special Operations Command tapped industry for Iron Man-suit concepts (sans rocket boots and hand blasters).

Welcome to the future, where there is an exoskeleton for nearly any use, from rehabilitating car-crash victims to supporting a factory worker through his shift to turning a soldier into a human battering ram who can crash through doors and shrug off AK-47 rounds.

Walking Wheelchairs

Walking Wheelchairs

Developed in 2004 by Argo Medical Technologies founder Amit Goffer, who had suffered a severe spinal-cord injury, ReWalk is designed to help those paralyzed from the midchest down go about their daily routine as if they were operating a walking, electric wheelchair. By contrast, most other medical exoskeletons are strictly rehab tools. "Users don't have independent control," says Argo CEO Larry Jasinski. "Someone walks behind them and pushes a button, or they do something else. And many of them are tethered to a ceiling."

So far, ReWalk has seen limited use in Europe and Israel, but an FDA certification will crack the American market wide open. Jasinski then expects to sell ReWalk in the U.S. for around $60,000 and hopes insurance companies will foot some of the bill—he argues that ReWalk will save them money they would otherwise spend on expensive medicines and procedures. "If you take a body and don't let it walk, it deteriorates like you wouldn't believe," he says.

A ReWalk will last, on average, five years, but Janinski believes that's still enough time to see savings accrue. To make its case, Argo Medical Technologies is designing studies with insurance companies "so that they are more likely to be comfortable with the data at the other end," he says.